This Friday, October 28 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Great Trek, and the AMS is planning to host an event to celebrate.
The Great Trek was a student-led march led in 1922 by AMS president-elect Ab Richards to get the BC government to fund the construction of the UBC Point Grey campus after construction was put on hold for World War I. Students were eventually successful in securing the funding.
The AMS event will take place at 1 p.m. in front of the Great Trek Cairn, which was built by students following the student march in 1922. The student society will open the 50-year-old time capsule buried beneath the Cairn in 1972 and replace it with a new one to be opened in another 50 years.
AMS President Eshana Bhangu said the new capsule will include letters from UBC students as well as items from each undergraduate society, alumni of UBC and the Musqueam Indian Band. She said students can submit letters at the AMS offices in the Nest until Thursday.
Besides the event on Friday, the AMS is planning to open a two-week photo exhibit in the Hatch Art Gallery to display notable student moments over the past 100 years at UBC.
Although the AMS doesn’t have the exact total of the expenses for this event, Bhangu said the student society has a budget of about $60,000 on special events such as the Great Trek but don’t expect to spend all of this or go over the budget.
Bhangu said the AMS recognizes how the Great Trek facilitated UBC's colonial occupation of Musqueam land and has included Musqueam in the planning of this event. She said a territorial welcome at the ceremony will take place at the event. How and if other participation will take place will be determined by Musqueam.
Bhangu also reiterated how the Great Trek celebration is a testament to student advocacy and “the power students have to bring about substantial change.”